Question

In some states, the criminal who commits a particular crime with a gun will receive a much longer sentence than the criminal who commits the exact same crime (for example, a mugging, a convenience store robbery, or a car theft) using some other weapon like a knife or a baseball bat. These laws obviously increase the cost of preventing crime, because longer sentences for criminals are more costly to society. Offer one reason why increasing the punishment associated with the same crime committed in a different way would lower the social cost of crime.

Answer 1